IRS home office deduction for online professsor?

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by me again, Apr 12, 2014.

Loading...
  1. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Can someone who works as a full-time online professor at home claim an office deduction? Any tips or pointers are appreciated. April 15th is still three days away.
     
  2. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    I work FT at home as an online professor and I do it from my recliner in the living room. We do not have a spare room to dedicate as a "home office," so I do all my work from the living room recliner to earn a FT paycheck.

    However...

    My lovely wife (who is an attorney) says that the current IRS rules (the way that they are written) will not allow us to claim a home office because the room is also concurrently used for other recreational functions. She also says "no" to the designated square footage too.

    This is crazy. With more and more people working from home, the IRS is going to have to re-write their rules on home office tax deductions. As it stands now, a person who makes 100% of their income from home cannot claim a "home office" tax deduction unless they have a room that is fully dedicated to "work only."
     
  3. Delta

    Delta Active Member

    I would speak with an accountant. What if you formed an LLC educational consulting business with your office in your house? My county has one fill out a yearly asset sheet that taxes the office equipment but it is less than a thousand bucks there was no property tax. I do have to have a business license in my town as well so there is a lot of paperwork but some tax advantages so check with a CPA. I recently disolved my business because it was too much red tape!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 12, 2014
  4. jhp

    jhp Member

    Besides the copious documentation one must keep there is an other issue to consider.
    Home office tax deductions forces that portion of the house into depreciation.
    Since it is a business asset, as time goes you have to depreciate such asset.
    When you sell the house, that depreciated portion has to be considered.
    Normally a large portion of the profits from a home sale is "tax-free". This is not the case with a business property, and must be treated separately from the actual home value. If you change your mind later down the road and want to roll it back into the home, it is even more headache.

    I would avoid attempting to gain the tax deduction of the home office. It did not worth the headache for me.
     
  5. Delta

    Delta Active Member

    The IRS needs to re-write a lot of things!
     
  6. truckie270

    truckie270 New Member

    I have been claiming the home office deduction for years. It really is not that much work once you figure out the documentation you need to keep. I have a room dedicated as my faculty office - nothing else. It was not an issue with the sale of my last house because there was not a capital gain. I set it up as a business expense since the office is not an asset owned by the business, rather it is a space within the home that is being "rented" for the purpose of doing business. My office is 10% of the square footage of my house - so I deduct 10% of my mortgage, utilities, taxes, etc. I have been doing this for years and have several accountant friends who have indicated that I am doing it correctly. It is entirely worth it for me because it knocks off several thousands of dollars from my tax bill.
     
  7. truckie270

    truckie270 New Member

    IRS Publication 587:

    Excluding gain on the business part of your property.

    You generally can exclude gain on the part of your property used for business if you owned and lived in that
    part as your main home for at least 2 years during the 5-year period ending on the date of the sale.

    Part of Home Used for Business.

    If the part of your property used for business is within your home, such as a room used as a home office for a business or rooms used to provide daycare, you do not need to allocate gain on the sale of the property between the business part of the property and the part used as a home.
     

Share This Page